Our Last Night in Mozambique=(

Well tonight is our last night here in Mozambique. I have to tell you - Lynne, Roger and their son Stephen are wonderful people. They opened their home, cooked for us, and carted us around as they let us just share life with them. Their work here is amazing and making such a difference not only for the young men they are mentoring, the Mozambicans they employ, the community they touch through their church planting, but also the people who can now buy ovos (eggs) at an affordable price. We feel so blessed to have been a small part of this ministry - even if it was just for a short time. We have gained a new perspective on our world and have also made some new wonderful friends.

I'd like to leave you with the faces and places of Mozambique who have now found a place in our hearts. God bless.

It's Safari Day!

Today was an awesome day! We started out at 5:00 am and piled into Rodger and Lynne's bus and headed to South Africa. Border crossing in Africa is really different. When we got the the Mozambique border, we all had to get out of the car and stand in a really long line to go through customs. Then we got back into the car and drove about 300 yards to the border crossing into South Africa. Here we had to get out of the car again, and stand in another line for entry into South Africa. The whole process took longer than the drive to South Africa.

Wow - things looked really different in South Africa. We headed straight to Kruger Park. It is huge and so green and beautiful. I can't put into words what touring this park was like, but I can tell you that I think God is so creative. He made graceful animals like the Impala's and Giraffe's to teach us about beauty, and the Elephants to teach us about power and strength. He created crocodiles and lions to teach us to respect fear and recognize danger. God created bats is just creep us out and warthogs to show us His sense of humor. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....









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Another Orphanage

Hello! or El-oh as they say it in Mozambique!



Today, Scott and Rodger spent all day working on getting QuickBooks up and running for both MozOvos and the Missionary accounts. it's going well, but there have been several loud sighs (from Rodger - this stuff makes him crazy) and Scott trying to explain it another way and lots of Oh-K by Gabriel (the bookkeeper) and Jamudine (the business manager). Tyler and John (the two young men from Lakeside that are also on the trip) leave for MozOvos in the morning with Scott and Rodger sitting at the table and return to find them in the same position!





I am able to help a little with the computer work, but mainly I hang out with Lynne. Today we went to visit an orphanage that is run by a single woman from Brazil. Delci started this orphanage named House of Ants about 20 years ago because she saw all these little orphan children living on the streets and decided that something must be done. She located the orphanage in a community outside Maputo right across the street from a school. This way she can partner with the school. Along with the orphanage, she holds classes for the older children (most looked to be in their teens) in sewing, watercolor, sandal making, weaving and needlepoint and I'm sure other things that I did not see. These things are then sold to help support the orphanage. Delci also provides some teacher training here in Mozambique which is really needed. Teachers here receive about 1 year of training before they can teach. Delci is hoping one day to offer extended trainings for teachers during their break. Sounds a lot like our staff development. Talk about one person making a difference! I so enjoyed my visit - especially the little guys that walked around with me holding my hand. My only regret is that we had to leave.



Oh and while I am on the subject of school - a couple of fun facts. All kids wear school uniforms (in the public schools). The youngest students go to school starting about 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. They line up in long lines in the courtyards waiting to be called in. Students go to school for half day only. Then, the older elementary/middle school students come to same school during the mid day. High School students go at night - starting at 7:00 pm! (Wouldn't our high school teachers just love that! LOL) Many kids are not able to go to high school. Some of the high schools only go to 10th grade and those who want to finish have to go to another school in town. There is a very long waiting list to get into school - there are not enough spots for everyone. It makes me sad to think that there are kids here wishing to go to school, but unable - and there are kids back home who drop out willingly! We so take for granted what is easily obtained!

Tomorrow is safari day - I can't wait! (Woo Hoo!)